Senate Reaches Compromise To End Government Shutdown

posted by Bill Galluccio -
Jan 22, 2018

The Senate has an agreement on a temporary funding bill that will fund the government until February 8th, ending the three day government shutdown. Democrats said they agreed to the temporary funding bill after receiving assurances of a vote on immigration reform from Republican leaders. The vote passed the Senate on Monday afternoon with a vote of 81-18.

The House passed the bill on Monday evening by a vote of 266-150, sending it to President Trump. He is ready to sign the bill as soon it is brought to his desk.

The stopgap funding bill also includes a provision that funds the Children’s Health Insurance Program for six years.

The Hill reports that if legislators cannot agree to a long-term spending deal by February 8th, "the Senate will immediately proceed to consideration of legislation," on immigration reform that will reinstate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which gave legal protections to undocumented children brought to the United States by their parents.

The government shut down after the running out of funding at 12:01 am on Saturday morning. The Democrats refused to fund the government unless the Republicans agreed to make DACA permanent. The Republicans said they would consider it if the Democrats agreed to major changes to immigration policy and promised to fully fund a wall on the border of the United States and Mexico.